Michael Grass
Communications Manager, Center for an Informed Public, University of Washington Information School
If you had to live in a different city, what city would you choose?
Los Angeles
Storytelling or innovation? Which is the most overused word in local government?
Innovation
What year would the most important in your life? Why?
2004; It’s when I helped launch DCist.com, a local news blog in Washington, D.C. (now owned by public radio station WAMU.) Jumpstarting DCist as a side hobby way back then opened doors for me professionally and helped give others early in their journalism careers a platform for their writing.
(Complete this sentence) The one thing that I think is missing from local government is….
… boundless streams of revenue that give municipalities the resources that they need.
What’s your “public meeting pump-up song,” the song that gets you fired up before a big meeting?
I don’t necessarily have a “public meeting pump-up song,” but if I would choose “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton to not only recognize a great song but also the fact that public meetings often happen outside the traditional 9-5 workday.
What fictional character would you most like to have a beer or coffee with? Why?
J.B. Fletcher from “Murder, She Wrote”